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how to get 3-4 hours of continuous smoke

bigwally
bigwally Posts: 8
edited August 2012 in EggHead Forum
Any suggestions on how to get good smoke for several hours without adding chips every hour.
Cooking at 225 degs.
I soak chips and chunks for several hours before use.  If seems like every hour I have to add wood which means taking the meat, grill, and plate setter off.
Can the BGE function as a smoker for extended periods of time?

Thoughts appreciated.

Keith

Comments

  • Botch
    Botch Posts: 15,432
    Someone mentioned awhile back pushing more smokewood in through the lower damper; it isn't sitting on the coals but apparently lights anyway.
    I've also seen it said that you don't need that much smoke, the meat absorbs the majority of smoke in the first hour or so; and I know I put a lot less smokewood on my coals that, say, Bobby Flay does (but, he has a TV show and I don't)  
    ;)
    _____________

    "I mean, I don't just kill guys, I'm notorious for doing in houseplants."  - Maggie, Northern Exposure


  • Adamd
    Adamd Posts: 160
    I don't see why you would want to have that much smoke running into your meat for that long anyways. You must really like the smell and taste of the smoke flavor. 
  • travisstrick
    travisstrick Posts: 5,002
    Use chunks, stop soaking, and use more.
    Be careful, man! I've got a beverage here.
  • tazcrash
    tazcrash Posts: 1,852

    Use chunks, stop soaking, and use more.
    +1, and pile them in a column up from the grate to the top where you light. 

    Bx - > NJ ->TX!!! 
    All to get cheaper brisket! 
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    edited August 2012
    Chunks and chips. When are we going to stop that foolishness. Wood is wood. Want more smoke, add more wood. Fire has no idea whether it is in chunk or chip form

    If there's no smoke you either have not enough wood, or you have it in the wrong place.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • SteveWPBFL
    SteveWPBFL Posts: 1,327
    I just put a pork shoulder on and built my fire with hickory chunks mixed in with the lump from top to bottom of the firebowl. Estimate about 1/4 to 1/3 hickory in the firebowl. As long as there's something burning in the Egg tonight it should include hickory. When I get up in the morning to check on the shoulder I'll smell hickory as soon as I crack the door to go out. Been doing this all summer. I just like the smell of hickory even if the shoulder is 'done smoking'.
  • smasch
    smasch Posts: 115
    Chunks and chips. When are we going to stop that foolishness. Wood is wood. Want more smoke, add more wood. Fire has no idea whether it is in chunk or chip form If there's no smoke you either have not enough wood, or you have it in the wrong place.
    +1. Stike, this was spoken like a firefighting veteran.  I use a 2" x 8" round ish piece of apple or cherry as of late.  Stand it on end and add lump around it.  Not too much, but keeps the smoke flavor going.  
    Owner of LBGE, Antique Komodo Green in Color. Proud Career Firefighter. Johns Creek / South Forsyth GA
  • Great feedback, thanks.  I get the quantity comments but the question I still have is do I soak the wood chunks/chips or not?
    Bronxville, New York. XLBGE, MBGE
  • AleBrewer
    AleBrewer Posts: 555
    no...you don't need to soak wood chips or chinks.
  • tazcrash
    tazcrash Posts: 1,852
    edited August 2012
    Not.
    No need to soak either. 
    Lots of people like to soak, but....
    If you are restricting the Oxygen (small vent openings for low and slow), the wood wont flare up. Open the lid, watch it burst into flame.

    There is a pic on the internet of a chunk that was soaked, and then cut open. Water penetration was very shallow (like a smoke ring). 

    Bx - > NJ ->TX!!! 
    All to get cheaper brisket! 
  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,674
    mix it down thru the middle of the lump pile, and if your using chips add more than you think you should,  theres more wood in a big chunk of wood than there is in a handfull of chips. i do some cooks with an oak log in the pit, its probably equal in weight to 10 bags of chips
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    Soaked chips give the false impression there's more smoke, but what you're seeing is mostly steam from the soak water.  I'd argue that soaking them actually has a negative effect insofar as the coal's ability to light all the chips it comes in contact with.
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
  • xraypat23
    xraypat23 Posts: 421
    BIG CHUNKS! I use about 4-5 4 inch round by 2 inch thick cut pieces of peach tree. Put one in the bottom with the big chunks of coal, 2-3 more on top of that, and one right on top of the coals after i light them. works every time.
  • Skiddymarker
    Skiddymarker Posts: 8,522
    tazcrash said:
    Not.
    No need to soak either. 
    Lots of people like to soak, but....
    If you are restricting the Oxygen (small vent openings for low and slow), the wood wont flare up. Open the lid, watch it burst into flame.

    I think the idea of soaking originated, if you are using a gasser.... If you don't slow down the combustion, the chips will ignite and all the smoke show is over in 10 or 20 minutes, that's why some cast smoker boxes have a water and chip compartment, or the pellets suggest a foil pouch with a small hole, IMHO. In the egg, with restricted air flow, even very dry wood (chips/chunks) will smoulder away with no or very little flame, as long as the dome is closed. 
    I light lump on one side and spread the chips over the firebox. Seems to last from one or two hours for a cook <300F. 
    Delta B.C. - Whiskey and steak, because no good story ever started with someone having a salad!
  • tazcrash
    tazcrash Posts: 1,852
    edited August 2012
    I think the idea of soaking originated, if you are using a gasser.... If you don't slow down the combustion, the chips will ignite and all the smoke show is over in 10 or 20 minutes, 
    Agreed. I used to do it on my gasser, and Weber smokey joe. I also used to soak when I first got the egg. Then I tried dry, and would watch the wood flare up, go out, flare up, go out every time I opened the lid. 

    Like a kid with the refrigerator light. :)
    Bx - > NJ ->TX!!! 
    All to get cheaper brisket! 
  • AleBrewer
    AleBrewer Posts: 555
    I think people like to see all that white smoke billowing out of their grill....makes 'em think they are "really smokin" something!

    All that white smoke(as noted earlier) is merely moisture. All you really need to see is thin wisps of bluish smoke emanating from the Egg. If you can smell it....you're smoking. 
  • Sgt93
    Sgt93 Posts: 728
    edited August 2012
    Use chunks and make an "X" going across the bottom of the fire grate. 
    image
    XL BGE - Small BGE - A few Komodo Kamado Serious Big Bad 42s
    Follow me on Instagram: @SSgt93
  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    I've been using Stike's method of loading for constant smoke - see his drawing in this

    http://eggheadforum.com/search?Search=been+meaning+to+draw+this+for+a+while
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
  • joe@bge
    joe@bge Posts: 394
    I thought there was a pretty reliable source that posted here once before that most meats will only take on smoke flavor up until a certain temperature.  Of course, I don't have the source to quote.  If this is true, then you may not need that much actual smoke to get the flavor you are desiring.
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    edited August 2012
    that is a myth.  very persistant. no truth to it other than the smoke RING only forms early during the cook, when the meat is fairly cold.

    but smoke flavors any meat at any time, cooked, raw, hot, cold
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • lousubcap
    lousubcap Posts: 32,174
    @ joe@bge-no credible source here, but I have read here and other places that the smoke ring will only form when the surface meat temp is below around 140*F (so colder start= more ring time).  Now, smoke will adhere to the meat surface as long as smoke is present and there is a tremperature difference between the smoke and the meat.  So more smoke in the BGE will add to the smoke flavor.  FWIW-
    Louisville; Rolling smoke in the neighbourhood. # 38 for the win.  Life is too short for light/lite beer!  Seems I'm livin in a transitional period.
  • joe@bge
    joe@bge Posts: 394
    Thanks guys for the clarification.  It was the smoke ring that I was referring too that I had read before.